By Tony Okafor
Let’s kill all the lawyers” is a line from William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2. The full quote is “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.It is among Shakespeare’s most famous lines, as well as one of his most controversial. Shakespeare may be making a joke when character “Dick The Butcher” suggests one of the ways the band of pretenders to the throne can improve the country is to kill all the lawyers. Dick is a rough character, a killer as evil as his name implies, like the other henchmen, and this is his rough solution to his perceived societal problem. The line has been interpreted in different ways: criticism of how lawyers maintain the privilege of the wealthy and powerful; implicit praise of how lawyers stand in the way of violent mobs; and criticism of bureaucracy and perversions of the rule of law. That was in Shakespeare’s society.
In the Nigerian society , the refrain seems “Let’s kill all the journalists. Perhaps, the sad music began with the cold murder of the co-founder of Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa in 1986 via a letter bomb. Thirty five years after that gruesome murder, the killers who are known and identified could not be punished for their sins.
A 2021 Press Freedom Report released recently said eight Nigerian journalists had been killed during the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)
It added that apart from the unresolved killings, the regime recorded 300 violations, affecting about 500 journalists, media workers, and media houses in the country.
The report released by the Media Foundation for West Africa in collaboration with the Nigeria Union of Journalists, said the development was of major concern to the NUJ, as journalists and media organisations remained targets of attack by both protesters and government.
Presenting the report in Abuja, the Executive Director, Citizen Advocacy for Social and Economic Right, Frank Tietie, said such actions would bring back unpleasant memories of the long tenure of military rule and the established culture of intolerance against the media.
The report said Nigeria was witnessing actions that sought to undermine the profession by both state and non-state actors.
According to the report, Nigeria was fast gaining notoriety for its failure to tackle impunity for crimes against journalists including killings.
The report reads in part, “For example, in 2017, four journalists were killed in separate incidents with no credible inquiry yet to find the culprits and their motive for the fatal attacks. The four were a cameraman with the Anambra Broadcasting Services, Ikechukwu Onubogu; Lawrence Okojie of the Nigeria Television Authority in Edo State, a Desk Editor with Glory FM in Bayelsa State, Famous Giobaro and freelance broadcaster in Ekiti State, Abdul Ganiyu Lawal.
“Four more journalists have since been killed under circumstances that have yet to be clarified through any credible investigations. The killing on July 22, 2019 of Precious Owolabi, a reporter with the Channels Television in Abuja while covering a protest by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria-IMN, was agonising.”
The report also said clamping down on the media was a sign of weak democracy and a restive government.
Just yesterday, November 11, 2021, a Vanguard reporter, Tordue Henry Salem, was found dead in Abuja.
Details of the circumstances surrounding the recovery of his remains were still sketchy as of Thursday.
According reports, the late Salem who was covering the House of Representatives was last seen on October 13, 2021. After the close of work that day, he was said to have alighted from a cab at Total filling station, close to the Force headquarters, and headed for B.J’s garden, in the company of a female relative.
Thereafter, he reportedly flagged a cab for the lady who left before him, informing her that he was going to Area 8, Garki. But he was never seen until his remains were recovered on Thursday.
He’s gone to join the Dele Giwas.
Journalists are prophets. They are social critics . They challenge political and religious leaders and their people to do what God wants them to do. They frequently attack political and economic elite for not taking care of the poor. They even criticize foreign entanglements ( like unnecessary foreign loans) and wars.
And they frequently do it with harsh word. Any society that kills a prophet(journalists) will definitely regret it; the society will be like a man that by choice plugged off one of his eyes with a poisonous knife. Adieu Tordue Henry Salem of Vanguard.
